Cellmates
by BackstageSpotlight31
Summary: S.H.I.E.L.D placed Bruce into a cell chamber as punishment for doing more harm than good during a mission. He wakes up to find a recognizable face in the cell next to him - Loki. "...We aren't the same. I don't let my monster kill innocent people. Or at least, I try not to." Drabble. A late birthday gift for my friend Attila12 who loves Loki.


Everything was so blurry. His breath was heavy, his arms shook as he pushed himself off of the floor. The brunette fell, gasping as his hand reached out and spread across the cold hard floor.

"I didn't expect to see you here," a voice echoed.

Bruce blinked and opened his eyes wide, a green and black figure came into focus. "...Loki."

"Yes, that's right. The one and only. Why don't you get up from that floor? You wouldn't want your fellow comrades to see you in such a state."

Bruce let out a grunt as he did so, sitting cross legged on the ground, rubbing his eyes with the palm of his hand. "They were the ones who put me here."

"Oh did they?" Loki asked in a mocking tone. "I wonder why."

"You know damn well why," Bruce said as he tried to push himself to his feet, but failed. They drugged him with a pretty high dose this time.

Loki furrowed his brow, not expecting the doctor to be this bitter this soon, "Now, now, don't get angry. That's exactly what they don't want."

"You're patronizing me."

"Perhaps I am," Loki smirked as he placed his hands behind his back. He stood in the other cell next to him, being separated from the doctor by a thick wall of glass. "But, let's face it, why would you want to work with the people who think of you as a monster? They throw you in here like some animal that is in good need of a time out. Like a child, so ignorant to it's surroundings, never knowing right or wrong because they were never properly taught."

"I don't want to hear anything from you," Bruce said as he turned the other way, so that his gaze would not wonder over to Loki. He rested his chin on his knees as he pulled his legs closer to his body.

Loki continued anyway, enjoying his fun with the doctor. "I think you have a right to teach them a lesson. You aren't a child, you're a grown man."

No response.

"...I mean, look at you. You're weeping in the corner just like the child they think you are. Why don't you just break out of these glass walls and show them a lesson or two?"

"Well, when people label you as something, you end up believing it after a while." Bruce answered calmly.

"What, a child?"

"No, a monster."

Loki paused for a moment. He was called a monster as well. He /was/ the monster that his people feared.

Bruce turned around and looked up at Loki, "You know it's true. I know about you and your brother. About your father. Your mother. Is that why you started that war? You wanted to show them you were worth something? Did you really think that conquering Earth would prove to them that you weren't a monster?"

"Oh, I didn't do it to show them I wasn't a monster. I let go of that dream quite some time ago."

Bruce tilted his head, confused.

"You see," Loki continued, staying standing so that he would feel superior to the doctor. It was the very least he could do after the beating he took from that raging beast. "I've accepted that I am a monster. But I did not let go of wanting to prove that I had worth."

Bruce nodded, trying to understand. "So... you wanted to be a monster with worth."

"I wouldn't quite put it that way, but yes."

Bruce opened his mouth, words stumbling to form. "H-how would doing that make you worthy?"

"Worthy to rule."

"But what about in any other aspect? As a person."

Loki shrugged, "That would eventually come in due time."

Bruce pursed his lips. "I don't know if I like your way of thinking."

Loki furrowed his brows, offended. "What do you mean?"

"I was in Calcutta helping people in need. I was away from modern civilization. And even before that, I was on the run, always trying to find a way to cure myself, but always ended up putting others before my own needs."

"I'm not sure I follow you."

"I ended up accepting my fate; that this would never go away, and that I would most likely die never knowing what it was like to be a normal person again."

Loki stared, still not quite understanding.

"So I guess..." Bruce looked up at the raven haired male, "We both just ignored it. We didn't accept it at all. Just like Tony said... I can use this for good if only I accept it... And you too. You can do something good for your people. Prove to them that you are just as worthy as Thor even though you are born of their enemies."

"You know nothing of what I should and shouldn't do!" Loki snapped.

Bruce held up his hands in defeat. "Alright. Fine. Stay angry at the world. I've tried that, and it doesn't help." He couldn't help but to chuckle.

"Do not laugh at me, Banner."

"I'm not," he answered honestly, "I'm laughing at the both of us. Now I know why you were so fascinating to me when we first locked you up."

"You find our situations amusing?"

"No. I find them ironic. We're practically the same, and yet, we never really got to sit down and talk about it, have we?"

"Now you really /are/ mocking me, aren't you, doctor?"

Bruce turned back around so that Loki did not need to look upon his face. "I'm sorry, that wasn't right of me to say..."

Loki nodded, accepting the apology.

"...We aren't the same. I don't let my monster kill innocent people. Or at least, I try not to."

The door opened up to the cell room, and there stood the blonde in the red white and blue uniform. "Doctor, we apologize. Fury was in the wrong. Without you, the mission would have failed. The director has given me permission to let you leave your cell now." Steve pushed the button on the side of the cell, and Bruce's door opened.

The brunette looked up at the captain after giving it a few moments of thought. "I would like to stay in here for... just a while longer. If you don't mind."

Steve didn't understand the doctor's request, but respected it nonetheless. "Alright. Just call for me when you need me. I'll be watching the monitors."

Bruce nodded and watched the captain walk away.

"Such a stupid man," Loki scoffed. "Your freedom was staring you right in the face and yet you just sat there."

Bruce let it slide. Maybe Loki was right. Maybe everything he ever needed to hear was there all along, he just wasn't listening.

Accepting wasn't the same as ignoring.

Accepting the monster was the real way to earn respect, he knew that now.

"Thank you," Bruce said quietly.

"...For what?"

"For being a great cellmate."


End file.
